Dad With Depression Kills Family on Graduation Day

A man with depression fatally stabbed his wife, his two teenage sons, and then himself days after his release from a mental health facility in Nebraska, authorities say. Leading up to the deaths, Bailey Koch detailed her husband's battle with depression on Facebook and launched a since-deleted GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his treatment. The special education teacher said Jeremy Koch was diagnosed with depression in 2009 and that his condition worsened in 2024, per People. That March, Bailey said she awoke to find her husband standing over her with a knife. She said he entered treatment and was released Wednesday, "in time for our oldest son's high school graduation on Saturday."

Around 9:45am Saturday, Bailey's parents discovered the four bodies at a home near Johnson Lake in rural Dawson County, per the New York Post. "I found our two grandsons, Hudson 18, and Asher 16, and our daughter Bailey, and our son-in-law Jeremy, dead laying in their beds," Lane and Peggy Kugler wrote in a Facebook post. "What I saw will haunt me the rest of my life." Nebraska State Patrol said all four were found dead of "fatal knife wounds." A knife was also found at the scene.

Earlier this month, Bailey wrote that her husband had survived numerous suicide attempts, including a nearly-fatal car crash. "When he awoke, he was destroyed his attempt hadn't worked," she noted. Writing Thursday, she said her high school sweetheart continued to battle suicidal thoughts. "The battle to live when your brain is constantly making death sound so appealing is completely exhausting," she wrote. The hours-old tragedy was acknowledged at Cozad High School's graduation ceremony on Saturday. Asher also attended the school as a freshman on the golf team. (If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.)